Elizabeth Warren Shares Her Own #MeToo Story: 'What Had I Done to Bring This On?'

Following numerous reports detailing decades of alleged sexual harassment and misconduct by former Hollywood powerhouse Harvey Weinstein, thousands of women took to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to share their own experiences using the #MeToo hashtag. And now women in Washington are taking part in the viral moment—Senators Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.), Claire McCaskill (D–Miss.), Heidi Heitkamp (D–N.D.), and Mazie Hirono (D–Hawaii) each shared their own #MeToo story on Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press.

"Yes, I have a #MeToo story too," Warren began. "I was a baby law professor and so excited to have my first real teaching job. There was a senior faculty member who would tell dirty jokes and make comments about my appearance. One day he asked me if I would stop by his office, which I didn't think much about and I did. And he slammed the door and lunged for me."

She continued, saying: "It was like a bad cartoon. He's chasing me around the desk trying to get his hands on me. And I kept saying, 'You don't want to do this. You don't want to do this. I have little children at home. Please don't do this.'"

As Warren tried to talk to him calmly, one thought was running through her head: "If he gets hold of me, I'm going to punch him right in the face," she said. Eventually, she managed to escape from the room but was left feeling shaken.

"I went back to my office, and I just sat and shook," she said. "And thought, What had I done to bring this on?" As she noted, aside from telling her closest friend, Warren kept the incident entirely to herself.

NBC asked all 21 women in the Senate if they had stories of sexual harassment to share in light of the #MeToo movement. The four Democratic women said yes. Though the viral campaign has remained a trending topic for days, its origins trace back to 2007 when activist Tarana Burke started "Me Too" as a way to help sexual assault survivors in underserved communities support one another and talk openly about their experiences.

Like Warren, McCaskill had a disturbing encounter early in her career. As a young state legislator, McCaskill fretted about how she would get her first bill out of committee. Hoping to do so, she "cautiously approached the very powerful speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives" to ask him for some advice.

"He looked at me, and he paused," McCaskill said, "And asked, Did you bring your kneepads?'"

Hirono similarly recalled being propositioned by colleagues during the course of her career. And Heitkamp shared a disturbing encounter with a law enforcement official as she worked to bring forward changes that would benefit survivors of domestic violence.

"He pretty much put his finger in my face and said, 'Listen here. Men will always beat their wives and you can't stop them,'" Heitkamp said.

Though the four senators' stories further reveal how prominent sexual harassment is for women of all backgrounds and experiences, the segment concluded with a powerful message from Warren about how women speaking out can change this for the better.

"What it means now that so many people have spoken out is that it's a way to say we're here for each other," Warren said. "It's also a way to say, 'No, it's not about what you did. He's the one who stepped out of line and this is on him.'"